On April 10, 2024, at around 6 p.m., the 'Liliana X' caught fire off the l’Île de Ré with three people on board, were able to take refuge on the tender of their catamaran, which had set sail from Sables-d’Olonne. The crew of a Guépard Yankee helicopter from the French Navy detachment base in La Rochelle located the boat, and the castaways were taken on board a fishing vessel before they were transferred to the lifeboat “SNS 741 Marie-Anne” from La Rochelle. The boat was towed back to the port and disembarked at the marina in La Rochelle. Report with photos: https://www.sudouest.fr/environnement/mer/un-catamaran-en-feu-au-large-de-l-ile-de-re-ses-trois-occupants-secourus-19287081.php
News
DALI
The U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Diving and Salvage (SUPSALV) has released new sonar imagery of the wreckage of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, showing the full extent of the damage and the work that will be required to restore the main shipping channel. The depiction showed that the tangled wreckage has significantly reduced the navigable depth of the center of the federal channel, including areas where no wreckage is visible above the surface. As the USACE has warned before, the steel truss span disintegrated into a tangled mess when it hit the bottom, and its girders were visibly twisted together and embedded in the mud. It is a massive, cantilevered, mangled mess of wreckage that is contorted and making it extremely difficult to identify any kind of structural integrity. The 3D sonar survey was created by Navy salvage divers, who operated in darkness and near-zero visibility to assess the contours of the wreckage. The diagrams show two separate areas of focus for the Army Corps-led salvage team. The first is a "Limited Access Channel," a 35-foot-deep fairway that contractors will clear on the north side of the center span. This will be big enough to allow ro/ros, barges and government vessels to go through. Clearing that channel will resolve minor national-defense effects of the bridge collapse: Four Military Sealift Command cargo ships are currently on the landward side of the bridge and cannot get out; meanwhile, several larger Coast Guard cutters are due to call in Baltimore for repairs and cannot get in. The Limited Access Channel includes areas with significant underwater wreckage, which may be challenging to clear. However, it is also further away from the difficult operation to remove the 'Dali', which is entangled with a section of the bridge truss. The delicate task of cutting the 'Dali' free is just beginning. When the channel is restored, thousands of stevedores and others who depend on the Port of Baltimore will be able to get back to work. While the primary focus has been on containerized and ro/ro cargoes, Baltimore is also home to America's second-largest coal terminal, which has been shuttered by the channel closure. In its April outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that U.S. coal exports will drop by fully a third this month and by 20 percent in May. The impact will reduce U.S. coal exports by six percent for the full year. Reports with photos: https://maritime-executive.com/article/new-sonar-data-shows-the-challenge-of-clearing-baltimore-bridge-s-wreckage https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/baltimore-bridge-collapse-1.7168668
COSTA DA BARCA
On April 10, 2024, the 'Costa da Barca' got the fishing gear entangled in the propeller and was disabled and adrift 10 nautical miles northnorthwest of Cape Ortegal. The ship requested assistance, and the SAR vessel 'Salvamar Shaula' was mobilized by the CCS Fisterra of Salvamento Marítimo. It took the trawler in tow and safely pulled it to Cariño. Report with photo: https://twitter.com/salvamentogob/status/1778127799015879081
CG JOSEPH TEZANOS
On April 8 the US Coast Guard has repatriated 101 migrants back to the Dominican Republic after nabbing them on the high seas as they tried to make their way to American soil over the weekend. The 'Joseph Tezanos' had intercepted three different crafts with migrants during the weekend of April 6/7. The migrants were transferred to Dominican Republic authorities during two separate rendezvous with the Dominican Republic Navy vessel 'Capella' just off Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Report with photo: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3734747/coast-guard-repatriates-101-migrants-to-dominican-republic-following-3-interdic/
SALVAMAR MINTAKA
In the night before of April 9, 2024, the sailing yacht 'Amaretto' with four crew members on board ran aground in El Masnou. The CCS of Salvemento Marítimo in Barcelona mobilized the 'Salvamar Mintaka' to assist. It rescued the castaaways from the Sun Odyssey 43 yacht, which was hard aground on the rocks with a list to port side, and took them safely to the port of Barcelona. Report with photos: https://twitter.com/salvamentogob/status/1722753635380039732